The Mountain Master of Sha Tin, page 25
“Who’s riding in each car?” Andy asked.
“You, me, Jimmy, and Sonny are in the first car. Ko, Feng, Wai, and Machi are in the second. That leaves two men in the van and two in the backup car,” Ava said.
“You aren’t afraid they’ll recognize one of us in our car? Those Land Rovers ride high,” Andy said.
Ava turned to Jimmy. “Do any of Wing’s men know you?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Can you drive?”
“Of course.”
“Then you drive the lead car,” she said. “Andy, did you wear gloves when you were driving it?”
“I did. There will be no fingerprints.”
“Then give your gloves to Jimmy,” she said. “As for the rest of us, we’ll have to stay as completely out of sight as we can. We’ll have to duck down or lie on the floor or back seat. We brought balaclavas to wear, and I believe Ko brought bulletproof vests, but you shouldn’t put them on until the very last minute. It’s one thing for the CCTV cameras to see you wearing them but another for Wing’s men when they follow us or drive past.”
“What if they have more than two cars?” The question came from Feng.
Ava shot him a glance. “It will be the same drill. As long as we have them blocked in front and behind, they aren’t going anywhere. It might mean they have more men, but if they do, we’ll just have to deal with them,” Ava said.
“My experience with Sammy is that he’s a creature of habit, and I only hope Carter has inherited that family trait. I expect to see the two of them with a total of four bodyguards in two black Land Rovers.”
“Do you expect that Carter and Sammy will be armed?” Ko asked.
“I’ve never known Sammy to carry a gun. I don’t know about Carter,” Ava said. “We should assume the bodyguards will be armed to the teeth.”
“The instant they see us, they’ll start firing,” Sonny said.
“That’s why we have to fire first. We can’t wait to find out how they’re going to react,” Ava said. “I’m afraid this is a take-no-prisoners exercise.”
“Better to be safe than sorry,” Ko said.
Ava looked at the men. None of them seemed uncomfortable with the prospect of a gunfight. “Any more questions?” she asked. When no one answered, she continued. “We need to stay connected by phone. If any questions come up, don’t hesitate to ask. We also don’t want any surprises, so if you see anything odd, let us know right away.”
“I want my men to route their communications through me and Feng. We’ll contact Ava or Sonny if the need arises. Remember, better safe than sorry,” Ko said. “And speaking of safety, I’ll ask Feng to hand out the vests now.”
“When you have the vests, Andy will distribute the balaclavas and we can move to our positions,” Ava said.
( 30 )
When they reached New Town Plaza, Ava asked Andy to drive the Toyota past the garage entrance and around the plaza several times before finally telling him to park it roughly a hundred metres from the entrance. Ko’s car, which had been following her, drove past and, when it next appeared, stopped a hundred metres behind them. She looked out the rear window and saw that the backup car was another fifty metres behind Ko. The van was stationed at the very top of the street. She phoned Ko. “It’s looking good, but contact the men in the van and ask them about their sightlines.”
He called back a few minutes later. “They can see well in both directions. One of them will fix on the eastbound exit and the other on the westbound.”
Ava was sitting in the back seat with Sonny, the gym bag containing his Cobray at his feet. Jimmy and Andy had their guns on the seats next to them. “We’re set,” she said to Sonny.
“We haven’t talked yet about how we’re going to handle the first Land Rover,” he said.
“I have been thinking about it,” she said. “Am I wrong to assume that Carter and Sammy will be sitting in the back seat?”
“I’ll be surprised if they aren’t.”
“Which means there’ll be a driver and a bodyguard in the front.”
“Also most likely.”
“Then the men in the front are our first targets. If we’re out of this car fast enough, we should be able to hit them before they have time to react,” she said. “But we don’t all need to be part of that first assault. In fact, if four of us try to get out of this car at the same time, we’ll probably get in each other’s way. What I suggest is that Andy bail out on the left-hand side and you on the right, so you have them in crossfire. After the first round of shots you should start moving towards the Land Rover, and then Jimmy and I can follow.”
“I like that,” Sonny said.
“Andy, are you okay with it as well?” she asked.
“I’m looking forward to it, although I have to say I hope we don’t hit Carter and Sammy with that first burst. I want to be close to those sons of bitches so I can watch them squirm before we put bullets into them.”
“If you hit them, you hit them,” Ava said. “Don’t try to be too fine with your shots. We’ve got to take out the men in the front seat before we can even think about the Wings.”
“I know, but I can’t help feeling the way I do.”
“I understand,” Ava said.
They all lapsed into an uncomfortable silence, and the next few minutes seemed to stretch much longer than that. Like Ava, Sonny had always been good at waiting, but she saw that both Jimmy and Andy were looking antsy. “Jimmy, tell me about your military service,” she said. “Where did you serve, and how did you become a sniper?”
Jimmy began to talk and Ava kept prompting him with more questions. At one point Andy joined in and spoke about his two-year stint in the army. Ava hadn’t heard about that before, and she quizzed him until she’d wrung the subject dry. As they were talking, they forgot about the time, and both men seemed to relax.
Around nine o’clock other cars began appearing on the street and making their way into the parking garage. Ava assumed they were store employees. At nine-thirty the traffic picked up noticeably. More store employees, she thought, and maybe some early-bird shoppers. By ten there was a steady stream of cars and time began to move more quickly.
“Andy, remind me. How early did the Wings arrive for our last meeting?”
“They got there about fifteen minutes before you.”
“We were on time for that meeting and it took us close to ten minutes to get from the parking garage to the restaurant, so for them to get to the restaurant fifteen minutes before us, they must have arrived at the plaza around ten-thirty,” she said. “If they stay true to form, we should expect them around then.”
Andy looked at his watch. “That’s close.”
“We’ll have about a one-minute warning from the van. When we get it, you and Sonny should put on your balaclavas and get low. I’m just going to pull down my hood. Jimmy, they’ll see you driving, so you can’t put on a balaclava until the action starts.”
“I’m not bothered by that. No one’s going to recognize me.”
“Wear my cap just in case,” Sonny said, handing it to him.
“We should put the vests on now as well,” she said. “Jimmy, you’ll have to wear yours under your windbreaker.”
“Momentai,” he said, taking off the jacket.
Ava’s phone rang. She looked at the screen, expecting to see Ko’s number. It was Xu.
“Has something happened?” she asked.
“I just got a call from Sammy. He wanted to know where I am. I told him I’ve landed in Hong Kong and am on my way to Sha Tin.”
“How did he sound?”
“Cautious,” Xu said. “He also called Lam last night and asked him how he was getting to Hong Kong. Lam said he’d be driving and would be there early this morning.”
“Are you worried he might be trying something underhanded?”
“I wouldn’t put it past him.”
“Well, we’re here and we’re in position. If he comes, we’re ready for him; if he doesn’t, we’ll find another plan.”
“I might be reading more into his phone calls than I should,” Xu said. “Logically, I can’t think of a good reason for him not to attend the meeting. I hinted strongly enough that we’re prepared to offer them a good deal and an olive branch. If that isn’t enough for him and his nephew, that’s one more reason why getting rid of them is an excellent idea.”
“Ava,” Sonny said, putting a hand on her arm. “I have a text. The Land Rovers have arrived.”
“I have to go. They’re here. I’ll call you when this is over,” she said to Xu and abruptly ended the call.
Sonny and Andy, already wearing their vests, were pulling on the balaclavas.
Ava pulled the hood over her head and tied it tightly under her chin. She took the Beretta from her pocket, looked at her vest, and decided to forego it. “I’ll lie on the floor and you take the seat,” she said to Sonny, who was taking his Cobray from the gym bag. “Jimmy, you should be able to see them in your rear-view mirror any second now. When you do, pull onto the street slowly and make sure you’re in front of them.”
She slid onto the floor and waited for what seemed like an eternity.
Above her, Sonny was looking at his phone. “Shit, I just got a text. There are three Land Rovers,” he said.
“And there are a couple of civilian cars in front of them,” Jimmy said.
“You’ll have to cut in,” she said. “I don’t care how you do it, but it has to be done.
Jimmy eased the car forward. A few seconds later he said, “I’m alongside the second civilian car. I’ve put on my turn signal and I’m trying to tuck in behind it. The fucking Land Rover doesn’t want to let me in.”
“Just do it, Jimmy,” she said.
“Yep,” he said.
Their van lurched to the left and Ava held her breath, half expecting to hear the sound of metal hitting metal. Instead, all she heard was the blare of the Land Rover’s horn.
“The driver is pissed at me, but I’m waving at him and he’s backing off a little.”
“How close are we to the parking garage?” she asked.
“Maybe thirty metres. The two civilian cars are going into it. We’ll have to wait for them,” Jimmy said.
“Three Land Rovers means more bodyguards, and we can’t be sure Sammy and Carter are in the first one,” Sonny said.
“I know, but the lead vehicle still has to be our first target,” Ava said. “Jimmy, while Sonny and Andy are going after it, we should focus our attention on the second vehicle. If we can get our shots off fast enough, we might be able to keep whoever is in it pinned inside. It’s going to be much harder for them to shoot out than it will be for us to shoot in.”
“I’m with you, Ava,” Jimmy said, and then added. “The first civilian car has gone into the parking lot. The second one is going down the ramp to the ticket dispenser. We’re at the top of the ramp now.”
The seconds multiplied as they waited, not moving. “Is there a problem?” Ava asked.
“The driver can’t seem to work the ticket dispenser,” Jimmy said. “She’s waving at me. I think she wants me to help her.”
“You’d better go before one of the guys in the Land Rover decides to,” Ava said.
Above her head Ava could hear Sonny’s heavy breathing. Her eyes were closed, an irrational reaction to the fear of being seen.
Jimmy’s door opened and he stepped outside. She heard him say something to the woman she couldn’t quite make out and then his footsteps as he walked down the ramp. A moment later he returned, slamming his door shut. “Wing’s bodyguards were looking at me but they didn’t leave the Land Rover,” he said.
“Could you see if Sammy and Carter are in that one?” Ava asked.
“No, I was trying not to look too nosy,” Jimmy said. “Ah, there goes the woman’s car and now here we go.”
The Toyota rolled a few metres and came to a stop. Ava noticed Sonny wasn’t breathing.
“Get ready. Starting to open my door,” Jimmy said. “Three, two, one. Now!”
Sonny’s hand had already been on the door handle, and in almost one motion he pushed the door open and swung his legs past Ava’s head. As she struggled to her feet she heard the distinctive burp, burp, burp of the Cobray and, from the other side of the car, Andy’s semi-automatic spitting out bullets. There was a wall of noise as glass shattered, bullets bit into metal, and other guns joined the fray.
Ava threw herself from the car and ran past Sonny with her gun aimed at the second Land Rover. On the opposite side, Jimmy was ahead of her, his semi-automatic already splintering windshield glass. She heard a shout from behind and froze for a second, fearing that one of Wing’s men had somehow escaped the first car and was aiming at her back. As she turned, she saw Sonny pointing his gun through broken glass into the front seat of the first car. He fired twice.
Andy had joined Jimmy and both of them were firing indiscriminately at the second Land Rover. Glass flew in all directions, and Ava was wondering how anyone could survive that firestorm when a rear door opened. A bodyguard she recognized from their Maxim’s meeting jumped out. He looked stunned, and when he looked in Ava’s direction, she wondered if he was actually seeing her. Just as she was thinking that, he raised his gun in her direction. She dropped onto one knee, aimed, and squeezed the trigger. Her first bullet hit him in the upper chest. He reeled backwards but didn’t drop his gun. She shot him again in the chest, and this time he fell, pitching forward onto his face.
Ava got to her feet and moved forward. Ahead of her, at the third Land Rover, a battle was being waged. Perhaps because they had to approach the vehicle from the rear and had been forced to wait for Sonny and Andy to launch the first attack, Ko, Feng, Machi, and Wai hadn’t had the first-strike advantage. Their own car was shot up and Wai lay on the ground in a pool of blood. Feng was shooting from a sitting position, his left leg ripped by a bullet.
“Stay there,” Jimmy shouted to her. He bent over close to the ground and edged his way to the front of the third Land Rover. The windshield was still mostly intact. Jimmy stood up and unleashed a torrent of bullets through it. She heard cries of pain and then saw Ko at the left side of the vehicle. He aimed his gun and fired. She couldn’t imagine anyone surviving the crossfire that Ko and Jimmy were generating.
Then for a few seconds, there was quiet.
Ko looked into the third vehicle. “They’re all dead,” he said loudly.
Andy stood by the second Land Rover. “Same here.”
“Is Sammy or Carter among them?” Ava asked.
“No, they’re here,” Sonny said, standing at the rear window of the first vehicle.
Ava walked down the ramp towards the Rover. “Both of them?” Ava asked. As she reached the car, the rear door opposite Sonny flew open and almost threw her back. She stumbled and nearly fell. As she tried to regain her footing, Carter Wing ran past her and down the ramp.
She didn’t react, not sure in that instant if she should chase him. Before she could make that decision she heard the burp burp burp of Sonny’s Cobray once more. Carter was almost lifted off the ground as the bullets thudded into his back. His body catapulted forward and he landed face down on the ramp. He didn’t move, not even a twitch.
She stared at him, trying to process what had just happened. As she did, Andy ran past her. He stood over Wing, kicked him in the side, then aimed his gun and fired. “That’s for Carlo!” he shouted as the back of Carter Wing’s head exploded.
“I still have Sammy,” Sonny said.
Ava turned away from the ramp and walked towards Sonny. He was pointing his gun through the rear window. She looked inside and saw Sammy cowering in the corner. He slowly raised his hands above his head.
“We came here in good faith,” he said.
“You wouldn’t know good faith if it spit in your face,” she said.
“We had a deal with Xu.”
“This is your deal, and it’s the only one you’re going to get.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to kill you.”
Sammy shook his head. “No, you’re not.”
Ava raised her gun.
“Uncle would never have approved of this.”
She looked at Sammy and suddenly saw a fat, old, useless man. He was staring up at her with an almost pathetic smile on his face. She kept pointing the Beretta, but her trigger finger seemed to be frozen.
“I know you can’t do this,” Sammy said.
Three shots rang out, ripping Sammy’s face apart. Sonny brushed past Ava, his gun still pointed at Sammy. “Sorry, boss, but I’ve been wanting to do that for a long time.”
( 31 )
Ava turned away from what was left of Sammy Wing and ran towards Ko, with Sonny right behind her. Ko was standing over Feng.
“We need to get out of here. He’ll need a doctor,” Ko said.
“How about Wai?” she asked.
“He’s dead,” Ko said. “Caught a bullet in the head.”
“We still have to take him with us. We can’t leave him.”
“I know,” Ko said, and then waved in the direction of the backup car and van.
Both vehicles had been blocking the road as the battle took place. Behind them a long line of cars stretched towards Tsing Sha Highway. Some of the occupants had left their vehicles to see what was going on and now formed a frightened mass on the outskirts of the action.
“Your car is shot to pieces,” Ava said. “Thank goodness for the van. That was great thinking on your part.”
Ko looked at Sonny. “Are the Wings dead?”
“Yeah.”
“Then let’s not waste any more time here.”
The Nissan and the van pulled up behind Ko’s car.
